Mark Mayerhofler may be hedging his bets when it comes to the World Cup - but he is convinced that Newcastle are on the way to one of their best seasons since they won the Premiership title in 1997.

"It has got to be either New Zealand or England," said the former All Black centre when asked who he was tipping for the World Cup, which kicked off today.

"I have a foot in both camps," he said. "I'll be very happy if New Zealand win but I'll be equally happy if England win it with my team-mate Jonny Wilkinson in the side."

But while Mayerhofler will be watching the tournament unfold with avid interest, his main concentration will be on making sure Newcastle don't ruin last weekend's good work when they take on table-toppers Harlequins at the Stoop tomorrow.

"They have started the season really well and they are at home so it's going to be really tough for us," said Mayerhofler, "but we're hoping to continue the form we showed last Sunday.

"We will have to get our team defence together to shut down their pacy runners - and we made good progress on that against Gloucester - but we have to stick it up a notch or two."

Mayerhofler has played a major role this season in creating chances for both Michael Stephenson and Jamie Noon, whom he rates as among the best finishers in the league. "We have a good balanced side - we have good classy backs who can finish and score tries and we have really strong tight forwards who like to do the hard work as well.

"We can work it up the middle and spin it wide as well - and that's the sign of a good side."

A win tomorrow and the Falcons will be genuine contenders to top the Premiership by the end of October.

"It's pleasing to be fourth in the Premiership," said manager Rob Andrew, "and there's no point in looking back at the Saracens and Leicester games which we should have won - we have to focus on what's in front of us.

"This is a massive month for us - Gloucester, Quins, Northampton and Bath. If we win all four of those games we will be top of the table and we will have deserved it.

"We've not played very well at Quins for a couple of years but that's going to change tomorrow.

"They've made a solid start with three wins out of four, but I don't think they have had a really significant test and we will provide that because we have found our pace."

In naming an unchanged side, Andrew was happy to reveal that England cap Dave Walder (hamstring) and Tongan international Epi Taione (ankle) will make their comeback after injury in Monday night's Development XV game at Rotherham.

"At a push they could have played tomorrow, but neither has trained with the team although they are back in rehab training," added Andrew.

"But we don't need to push them and we're not going to. Players have to earn the right to play and the way the guys are playing at the moment they are going to take some shifting."

Tom May, scorer of a hat-trick of tries, has shown no ill-effects after the bang on the head he received last week and has been cleared to play.

Top-of-the-table Quins have made one change to their side with Laurent Gomez coming in for Jon Dawson at tight head prop alongside Ace Tiatia, who was cleared in midweek after being cited by the RFU commissioner.

Quins team manager Mike Scot said: "The incident gained a lot of publicity, a lot of which was factually incorrect. Ace has missed just one Zurich Premiership game due to suspension in the two and half years he has been with us.

"He is a physical player and, within the laws of the game, we will continue to encourage him to be so.

"Newcastle will be brimming with confidence after a very good win against Gloucester and, apart from Ben Gollings at full back, who we know very well, there are many other fine players in their squad including Mark Andrews and Garath Archer."